Scientists see stronger evidence of slowing Atlantic Ocean circulation, an ‘Achilles’ heel’ of the climate. The new research applies a statistical analysis to show that those measures are in sync and that nine out of 11 show a clear trend.
Prior research had suggested that the AMOC was at its weakest point in a millennium or more, and suggested a roughly 15 percent weakening since about 1950. But when it comes to the latest evidence, “I think it just makes this conclusion considerably stronger,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, an author of the research and an oceanographer with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. The study was published in Nature Geoscience by scientists from the Potsdam Institute, Ireland’s Maynooth University and University College London.
The AMOC is driven by two vital components of ocean water: temperature and salt. In the North Atlantic, warm, salty water flows northward off the U.S. coastline, carrying heat from the tropics. The late climate scientist Wallace S. How Many People Did Nuclear Energy Kill? Nuclear Death Toll. NPR Cookie Consent and Choices. Phosphorus: Humanity Is Flushing Away the Element. In a field of sugar beets outside Cambridge, England, Simon Kelly stands above a narrow trench gouged into the rusty earth, roughly 15 feet deep and 30 feet long.
Think ‘Birdbrain’ Is an Insult? Think Again. This story appears in the February 2018 issue of National Geographic magazine. Discovery boosts theory that life on Earth arose from RNA-DNA mix. Chemists at Scripps Research have made a discovery that supports a surprising new view of how life originated on our planet.
In a study published in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, they demonstrated that a simple compound called diamidophosphate (DAP), which was plausibly present on Earth before life arose, could have chemically knitted together tiny DNA building blocks called deoxynucleosides into strands of primordial DNA. The finding is the latest in a series of discoveries, over the past several years, pointing to the possibility that DNA and its close chemical cousin RNA arose together as products of similar chemical reactions, and that the first self-replicating molecules—the first life forms on Earth—were mixes of the two.
Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Matter is what makes up the universe, but what makes up matter?
This question has long been tricky for those who think about it – especially for the physicists. Reflecting recent trends in physics, my colleague Jeffrey Eischen and I have described an updated way to think about matter. We propose that matter is not made of particles or waves, as was long thought, but – more fundamentally – that matter is made of fragments of energy.
The Social Life of Forests. Aquifers and Groundwater. • Water Science School HOME • Groundwater topics • Groundwater and aquifers A hole dug at the beach is a great way to illustrate the concept of how, below a certain depth, the ground, if it is permeable enough to hold water, is saturated with water.
2 scientists win Nobel chemistry prize for gene-editing tool. The Nobel Prize in chemistry went to two researchers Wednesday for a gene-editing tool that has revolutionized science by providing a way to alter DNA, the code of life—technology already being used to try to cure a host of diseases and raise better crops and livestock.
Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the United States won for developing CRISPR-cas9, a very simple technique for cutting a gene at a specific spot, allowing scientists to operate on flaws that are the root cause of many diseases. "There is enormous power in this genetic tool," said Claes Gustafsson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
More than 100 clinical trials are underway to study using CRISPR to treat inherited diseases, and "many are very promising," according to Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine. Black Hole Hunter: Andrea Ghez. New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States. By Al Shaw, Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, and Jeremy W.
Sun activity is waking up click 2x. The Sun has begun a new cycle.
Experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Tuesday that our star has begun Solar Cycle 25 after an uptick in activity on its surface. It follows a deep “solar minimum” in late 2019, with NASA and NOAA reporting that Solar Cycle began in December 2019. They also said that our Sun will be at its strongest of this new cycle in 2025. So what’s going on with our Sun?
Parallel Worlds Probably Exist. Here’s Why. Overlooked No More: Eunice Foote, Climate Scientist Lost to History. Overlooked is a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths, beginning in 1851, went unreported in The Times.
In the 1850s, Eunice Foote, an amateur scientist and activist for women’s rights, made a remarkable discovery about greenhouse gases that could have helped form the foundation of modern climate science. But the scientific paper she published that might have added her name to the pantheon of early climate scientists was quickly forgotten, and she faded into obscurity. There isn’t even a known photograph of her today. The idea that greenhouse gases warm the planet is anything but new, and anything but unsettled. Foote’s ingenious and elegant experiment involved two glass cylinders filled with various substances, including moist air and carbon dioxide.
In her 1856 paper about the experiment, “Circumstances Affecting the Heat of the Sun’s Rays,” she wrote that a cylinder with moist air became warmer than one with dry air. Origin of world's most prolific farm animal click 2x. It is the world’s most common farm animal as well as humanity’s largest single source of animal protein.
Some 24 billion strong, it outnumbers all other birds by an order of magnitude. Yet for 2 centuries, biologists have struggled to explain how the chicken became the chicken. Now, the first extensive study of the bird’s full genome concludes that people in northern Southeast Asia or southern China domesticated a colorful pheasant sometime after about 7500 B.C.E.
Migrants and traders then carried the bird across Asia and on to every continent except Antarctica. : Alpaca ‘nanobodies’ may hold key to immunity against Covid-19, researchers say. The Independent employs reporters around the world to bring you truly independent journalism. To support us, please consider a contribution. Tiny antibodies found in alpacas could hold the key to neutralising the virus that causes Covid-19 and aid in suppressing a second wave of infections, scientists have said. Potentially fatal bouts of heat and humidity on the rise, study finds. Intolerable bouts of extreme humidity and heat which could threaten human survival are on the rise across the world, suggesting that worst-case scenario warnings about the consequences of global heating are already occurring, a new study has revealed.
Scientists have identified thousands of previously undetected outbreaks of the deadly weather combination in parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and North America, including several hotspots along the US Gulf coast. Humidity is more dangerous than dry heat alone because it impairs sweating – the body’s life-saving natural cooling system.
The number of potentially fatal humidity and heat events doubled between 1979 and 2017, and are increasing in both frequency and intensity, according to the study published in Science Advances. Trump’s Faulty Malaria-Coronavirus Connection. Falsely citing “studies,” President Donald Trump has suggested that there are few novel coronavirus cases in “malaria countries” because of the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine. But no such studies exist, and the drug is not widely used for malaria in much of the world. Trump has aggressively promoted hydroxychloroquine for weeks, despite limited evidence at this point that it is safe or effective to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. What's in your water? Researchers identify new toxic byproducts of disinfecting drinking water.
Mixing drinking water with chlorine, the United States' most common method of disinfecting drinking water, creates previously unidentified toxic byproducts, says Carsten Prasse from Johns Hopkins University and his collaborators from the University of California, Berkeley and Switzerland. Recent discoveries fundamentally change our picture of human evolution - Business Insider. As anthropologists have discovered new species of human ancestors, our understanding of human history has changed. Inside Yellowstone's Supervolcano. A tectonic plate is dying under Oregon. Here’s why that matters. Scientists Find Interstellar Iron in Antarctic Snow. Study links irregular sleep patterns to metabolic disorders. Frogs are dying off at record rates - an ominous sign the 6th mass extinction is hitting one group of creatures hardest. One billion year old fungi found are Earth's oldest. Octopuses May Go Blind As Climate Change Sucks Oxygen Out of the Ocean.
Plastic leachates impair growth and oxygen production in Prochlorococcus , the ocean’s most abundant photosynthetic bacteria. Plastic leachates negatively affect Prochlorococcus growth. Circumcision: Social, Sexual, Psychological Realities. Climate change has contributed to droughts since 1900, and is likely to get worse, says tree-ring study. Using studies of tree rings going back centuries, scientists have unearthed clear evidence that the rise of human-generated greenhouse gases was having an effect on global drought conditions as early as 1900.
Mom Slams Anti-Vaxxers After Her 5-Month-Old Baby Gets Measles During Outbreak. Folding revolution. Fecal transplants result in massive long-term reduction in autism symptoms. Trees Have a “Heartbeat,” Scientists Discover. The business of immortality. U.S. faces fresh water shortages due to climate change, research says. New study finds how pesticide exposure causes obesity. Non-survivable humid heatwaves for over 500 million people – Climate Guide. Octopus And Squid Evolution Is Officially Weirder Than We Could Have Ever Imagined.
Poverty isn't a lack of character; it's a lack of cash. MMR vaccine does not cause autism, another study confirms. Juliet Brophy: How a new species of ancestors is changing our theory of human evolution. The Ocean Is Running Out of Breath, Scientists Warn. Zombie deer: Chronic wasting disease spreads, could affect humans. Lise Meitner – the forgotten woman of nuclear physics who deserved a Nobel Prize.
T-cells killing cancer cells GIF. Emily Quinn: The way we think about biological sex is wrong. Climate change will affect how many boys are born worldwide, scientists say. The treasure trove of unique genomes hiding in plain sight. How a kingfisher, an owl, & a penguin helped redesign Japan's Shinkansen.
Photo of an atom: A scientist captured an incredible photograph. Scientists discover a process that stabilizes fusion plasmas. The Simplest Explanation Of Global Warming Ever. You're Not Allowed to Die Here. Many diabetics needlessly test blood sugar at home. The Science Is Clear: Dirty Farm Water Is Making Us Sick.
Macaulay Library – A scientific archive for research, education, and conservation, powered by you. How 'miniature suns' could provide cheap, clean energy. How biologists are creating life-like cells from scratch. Soy formula feeding during infancy associated with severe menstrual pain in adulthood.
Could consciousness all come down to the way things vibrate? How an outsider bucked prevailing Alzheimer's theory, clawed for validation. Submarine to visit deepest parts of the ocean in Five Deeps Expedition. Earth's Water Cycle. Graduate Student Solves Quantum Verification Problem. New study links common herbicides and antibiotic resistance. Microbial dark matter dominates Earth's environments click 2x. How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement.
Brain-on-a-chip model may lead to new treatments for traumatic brain injury. Brain's Dumped DNA May Lead to Stress, Depression. New Microscope Shows the Quantum World in Crazy Detail. North Carolina didn't like science on sea levels … so passed a law against it. The book that fights sexism with science. Fold mountains. MIT Unveils New Material That's Strongest and Lightest On Earth. Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity.
Race, power, money – the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The Science Is In. Spanking Children Does Serious, Long-Term Damage click 2x. DIY Neuroscience click 2x. Where camels really come from TED talk. 55% of Oceans Acidifying Beyond Natural Variability. 7 Signs & Symptoms of Lyme Disease - Rash, Fatigue, Joint Pain. Trump Kills NASA Carbon Monitoring Program as CO2 Levels Soar Past 'Troubling' 410 ppm Threshold. Earth's orbital changes have influenced climate, life forms for at least 215 million years. People who think their opinions are superior to others are most prone to overestimating their relevant knowledge and ignoring chances to learn more. Mitochondria and the art of DNA maintenance. 'Double Trojan Horse' Drug Tricks Bacteria into Committing Suicide. ‘Volcanic Ash’ Isn’t Actually Ash – Starts With A Bang!
Here's what's in your bottled water (Marketplace) How Our Vegetables Became Less Nutritious than Our Parents' Preventing plastic’s perils – UC Santa Cruz Magazine. The case for evidence. Top 10 things everybody should know about science. Polls don’t identify the real science education problem. How To Be a Systems Thinker click 2x. What is a Supervolcano? Genetics.